ELSA programme professionalises

Training of union leaders is already leading to higher wages in collective agreements and more members

The ELSA programme trains and professionalises us as union leaders, after which we can also professionalise our union. Our members, at their turn, will also benefit from this.”

Juma Mwamula of the Ugandan private education union

Mondiaal FNV has organised the ELSA training programme in Uganda for the past two years. Union leaders and trade union talents worked on their own leadership style and how to use it to strengthen their unions. Thanks to the ELSA programme, they learned to negotiate effectively with employers, to better organise their unions, to make them financially sustainable and to build valuable alliances. This has already resulted in successes.

Laughter echoes through the workshop space. “Introverts are slow thinkers. They are wasting time”, a male union leader sums up some prejudices, which he writes down on a flipchart. “But we extroverts are not good in listening”, a female union leader responds, while laughing. As an exercise, the Ugandan trade unionists had to split into two groups of introverts and extroverts. Then, they had to write down the characteristics of both types of people, as part of a session in which they get to know themselves better through a personality test and other exercises. It is just one of the many components of the Executive Leadership programme on Sustainability and Alliance Building (ELSA), organised by Mondiaal FNV.

Getting to know yourself

“If you want to change an organisation, you have to make sure that people understand and follow you as a leader: why do you do what you do. Leadership is based on relationships, both internally and externally,” trainer Petra Bosse explains. “And to get along with others, you first have to know yourself,” the trainer continues. “Only then, you will understand others and you will be able to read them better. We call that Emotional Intelligence. This will help you to put together a good and diverse team.”

With the so-called ELSA-programme, Mondiaal FNV wants to increase the financial sustainability of trade unions in Uganda. “This is a comprehensive concept, which includes many things, but one way or another it means that you make unions more future-proof,” Tendayi Matimba, financial project manager from Mondiaal FNV says.

Read financial reports

Many unions in Uganda are facing financial problems. Like unions in the Netherlands, they have to deal with, for example, declining membership numbers. Many of the union leaders are also insufficiently trained in managing their union in an effective way. “Previously, I didn't really understand our union's financial audit report, when I had to review or even sign it,” Stephen Abima, secretary general of the 105,000-member transport union AGTWU says. However, during the ELSA training programme, all participants learned to make a balance sheet for their union and to read financial reports. “Now I can have in-depth conversations with our accountant. I’m also able to keep an eye on the union finances and take action when needed.”

The union leaders also learned about the importance of a digital management information system. “Only during talks with trainers from the ELSA-programme, I realised that we were not having any idea of how many of our seven hundred registered members were actually paying their membership fees”, says Anita Sseruwgi, general secretary of the Ugandan trade union NUCPAW, for workers in the creative sectors like the music and the film industry. The union launched a digital system in which they now register all members with their name and ID number, keep track of payments and even register at which activities they participated. The organisation also registers gender and age, so they are able to easily organise activities for specific target groups.

During previous salary negotiations, we often came in with a very rigid view

Recruit paying members

Anita also came up with a method to make her members pay. “We started to organise discussions, workshops and all kind of other activities that attracted a lot of attention. However, we decided that members can only participate after they’ve paid at least a half year of membership fees”, the union leader explains who managed through this system to recruit more than 17.500 paying members in the past two years.

Immediate results from the lessons learned

Some participants even saw immediate results from the lessons learned about negotiations. “During previous salary negotiations, we often came in with a very rigid view whereby we were only focusing on our demands”, says Peter Bendo, the general secretary of the Ugandan trade union UTGLAWU, for the clothing, textile and leather industry. However, during the ELSA-training module on negotiations, the Ugandan trade union leaders learned that rigidity can be a real negotiation-killer that might lead to going home empty-handed.

Respect employers

During a new salary negotiation, Peter decided to put the acquired knowledge straight into practice. “We tried to listen to the employers and to trust them. As a result, we noticed that they also treated us with more respect and started to listen to us,” the 39-year-old general secretary explains. The union managed to get a 13 percent salary increase for the first year, 10 percent for the second year and another 10 percent for the following year. We could never have done that without the ELSA-programme”, the Ugandan leader states with a big smile.

Boost of self-confidence

The training programme boosted the self-confidence of the young female union leaders in particular. “I used to be shy and I hardly dared to speak in front of a group,“ 32-year-old Barbara Badaru from the Ugandan trade union NUPAW, for plantation and agricultural workers, says. “I was the only young person among exclusively middle-aged or even older people at my union,” the Ugandan tells who therefore felt out of place at the union.

The Importance of young trade union activists

Through the ELSA-programme, Barbara got to know herself better and learned to stand up for herself. “The trainers also taught me various leadership and communication skills and gave me the confidence that also I could be a good leader”, the woman tells, who with the gained skills and knowledge is now able to work more effectively for her trade union. She proudly tells that she recruited over 8,000 new members on the tea plantations in the past six months. “I spoke to large groups of tea pickers while I clearly explained to them why it is important to join the union. Aside of that, I convinced the management about the importance of rejuvenating the union. And since then, seven young employees have been hired.”

'We now can join forces'

Aside of all the lessons learned, all participants believe that it was extremely valuable to have such intensive contact with other Ugandan trade union leaders during the workshops. “Many of them I had met before during earlier official meetings, but everyone was very timid during those occasions,” says Juma Mwamula, general secretary of the Ugandan private education union UPTU. “However, the ELSA programme encouraged us to share our problems and challenges”, the 40-year-old leader tells. “As a result, we now trust each other. Therefore, I’m sure that I can contact any of them in case I need help and we now can join forces.”